What is the best restaurant reservation system in the UK in 2024?

In this article, we’re going to look at some of the leading providers of restaurant booking system and determine what exactly makes a reservation system the best and how you can find the best system for you.

Helping you find the best reservation software solution

Here at Access, we know our stuff when it comes to online software. As specialist software providers for restaurants and hospitality, we have plenty of experience in helping clients find the best software solution for them and what factors they should consider when choosing a system.

Also, you may be wondering why we would even write a piece like this - one that literally highlights our competitors. Well, first and foremost, we believe in educating our potential customers to the best of our ability. In fact, we believe that it's more important we help them make an informed decision than it is to sell them our solution. If, by doing this, they feel we're the best fit for them, then great. But if not, at least we've done our part.

Key features you should look for

When choosing restaurant booking system you should pay close attention to the basic features that are included in the software package as well as the cost of additional functionality or variable fees such as cost per cover. As a minimum, your online booking system should support the taking and managing of restaurant reservations through a website, but online booking systems often offer other features such as:

• Table management
• Online payment functionality
• Guest communications
• Marketing support
• Integrations
• Reporting

Check out the below advice for what to consider when choosing an online booking system.

1. Useful features  

Each restaurant reservation system has its own USP, and this will help you determine which reservation platform will suit your business.  

Picking the right system can be a tricky task. So, start by outlining your main challenges when it comes to reservation management. Which software functionality would help your business on a day-to-day basis? You might currently be struggling with a high volume of bookings and managing them digitally would be helpful. Perhaps your current reservation system doesn’t support multi-channel integration – and you’re losing bookings through Google and other channels. Maybe you would like to expand the functionality and improve table management before the busy Christmas period. You might be looking for extra marketing and promotion features that can help you attract more customers. Are no-shows a big problem? Then a reservation system that supports pre-visit payments and deposits will be the one for you.  

2. Costs 

Many reservation systems operate on different price and payment structures, so you’ll want to have a good idea of your proposed level of investment and whether you would like an upfront cost, monthly rolling costs, a commission-based pricing model or a combination.  

Additional functionality sometimes comes with an additional cost – and this can be a great way to custom-build a reservation system for your business.

Be aware throughout the process and ensure you choose a software provider that’s pricing structure aligns with your business’s budget and needs. Pricing transparency is pivotal in this process - watch out for any hidden fees that may give you a jump scare later down the line.  

Find out more about how much an online restaurant reservation costs.

3. Customisability 

There are other factors to think about aside from functionality and cost, such as branding and user interface. Does the customer-facing platform for your reservation system fit the look and feel of your restaurant business? If you have an established brand identity you will need a white label software that enables you to fully customise the customer-facing platform to fit with your company brand guidelines. 

If white label software is important to you then remember to ask yourself these important questions when choosing a new restaurant reservation system: Can you personalise your communications for both staff and customers? Can the online booking widget be designed to look like the rest of the website?  

Customisability can bump up the price, however, if this is something that’s important to your business and your brand, then it will be worth the additional cost.   

4. Integration  

Restaurant reservation software usually provides a lot more than a booking platform for your website enquiries and system integrations can support other areas of your business operation.   

You can find reservation software that integrates with table management software, your EPoS and inventory management systems and deliver a more comprehensive view across your restaurant operation. Online bookings can be instantly delivered into table management so you can see not only how many bookings you have ahead of service but where you will seat them. Booking information delivered to your EPoS enables you to offer pre-sale items, such as a bottle of wine on the table for arrival or view pre-orders. And pre-orders can also help you plan your week’s inventory and purchasing needs. 

5. Software support  

When your business operation is dependent on technology, keeping that tech up to date to support new integrations and payment providers is essential. And for independent restaurants that don’t have in-house tech support to lean on, ongoing software support is an important factor.  

Adopting any new software can be a bumpy process, so you need to be confident of the level of support you will get to ensure you are up and running smoothly and how your software will be updated.  

Find out if you will have a dedicated support manager, how you’ll be informed of tech updates and how to onboard the software and train your team. 

Access Collins 

Access Collins’ cloud-based hospitality booking system offers a core service which includes enquiry management – dealing with real-time bookings and enquiries coming through social channels, your website, Reserve with Google, or over the phone with automated email acknowledgement of enquiries and bookings.

The core service, which is charged at a flat monthly fee of £135 per site, also includes table management and data reporting. This latter function enables you to analyse performance at a site or group level and understand which channels are driving the most footfall and bookings.

Access Collins also offers additional functionality as optional extras, including the ability to send automated booking reminders as well as take payments and deposits ahead of time to reduce no-shows. Other features include an enhanced waitlist function (Access Collins LiveWait) and ticketing and voucher products to enable restaurants to market special events.

The system has a partnership with hospitality discovery website DesignMyNight, which showcases partner restaurants and bars to millions of visitors and its database of 500,000 newsletter subscribers. It also integrates with Access’ wide range of restaurant-focused software.

OpenTable

OpenTable is a third-party consumer-facing booking site that offers many features around restaurant reservations while also providing its clients with access to a network of 31 million diners around the world.  

This system allows you to take reservations 24/7 through your own digital properties, its own website, and those of its affiliate partners; provides a table management service and an in-house and online waitlist function; real-time inventory and has the ability to connect with your EPoS system.  

OpenTable has two pricing plans:

• Core (£179 per month) - Core’s features include reservations, table management, marketing tools, review management, in-house and online waitlist, and EPoS integration.
• Pro (£299 per month) - Pro offers the same features as Core with ‘plus robust relationship management to drive loyalty and create more regulars.’

Restaurants are also charged £2 for every cover booked through OpenTable’s website or app. 

TheFork

TheFork is an international reservation site that delivers online restaurant bookings while also providing restaurants with significant visibility through its discovery platform. It has 55,000 restaurants worldwide in its network, attracting over 20 million monthly visits and integrates closely with TripAdvisor and Google for review management.

The platform provides two plans and offers a wide range of features, including standard reservation management, free bookings with Meta and Google, table and waitlist management and ePOS integration. Restaurants also benefit from a free customised page on TheFork, tools for personalised customer experiences, credit card guarantees to reduce no-shows and their own loyalty program.

TheFork offers two plans:

• Free (£0 per month)
• Pro+ (£139 per month)

The free plan includes core features for reservation management and online visibility. Pro+ provides access to advanced features like pre-payments, yield management tools, enhanced marketing, and dedicated support. In both plans, commissions are calculated based on a percentage of the restaurant's average meal prices.

ResDiary

ResDiary, an Access Group company, is principally a restaurant reservation and table management platform and offers four plans for the UK market.

The platform's plans include table management, waitlist, payments, email marketing, CRM, channel management, and reporting suite. For additional operational streamlining, users can opt for add-on modules that handle vouchers, pre-orders, and event booking inquiry management.

Options and additional services are available through its additional functionality models which are priced at a flat fee, including ResPhone which converts phone bookings into online ones, W8list and yield and channel management services.

One of ResDiary's advantages is its extensive integration capabilities, with over 60 integrations globally, covering EPOS, PMS, CRM, and other booking channels. ResDiary also owns the customer-focused marketing platform, DishCult.

All bookings made through ResDiary are commission-free.

• Plans start from 89 GBP per month (ResDiary Connect) with discounts on annual subscriptions
• All plans include table management, diner communications, payments for no-shows, Dish Cult listing and more

Quandoo  

Quandoo starts with a 'new & improved' plan that is ‘built for growth’ so can support your business as it increases in size. It provides a booking widget for your website and social media and allows you to view reservations in one place on its Pro plan, while its Premium plan includes a raft of additional features designed to improve efficiency.   

Premium features include an interactive floor plan visualisation tool, guest database management and real-time reporting. While it handles all aspects of bookings and integrates with search sites like Google, it doesn’t have the same breadth of offerings as others.   

Whichever plan is chosen, Quandoo charges an additional set-up fee: 

• £249 for the Pro plan 
• £749 for the Premium plan 

Which restaurant reservation software is right for my business?

So, we’ve looked at everything on offer from five of the top reservation systems for restaurants. What have we learned?

For newbies or businesses with a flexible budget who are looking to reach a wider audience, OpenTable and TheFork with their vast database of customers and strong marketing focus may be a good place to start.

OpenTable’s strong positioning doesn’t come cheap, though and you may not have the funds if you’re just starting out, meaning the basic plans with ResDiary and Quandoo might be a more affordable way to dip your toe into the online booking water.

If you’re looking for a solid booking platform with the ability to build out the offer down the road then the customisability of the Access Collins features, and custom branding will be a great fit. The consistent flat fee each month allows you to budget more accurately, and the cloud-based system is managed by you, so you control how you communicate with your customers. The added venue promotion through DesignMyNight can help with reaching a new and wider audience with a free venue listing with bookings through the platform costing £2 per cover.

There’s no one right answer when it comes to the best reservation software, the best system will be the one that aligns with your business needs and budget. To find out more about how our tailored restaurant booking system can help boost bookings in your restaurant get in touch with the team.

The information in this article is based on the information available at the time of publication and the companies listed will certainly update features, products and pricing over time which we will endeavour to keep up to date in this article.